


Weeds are flowers too ( once you get to know them )

by kingwrites



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Flower Shop & Tattoo Parlor, F/F, Features, M/M, Who I love, also this whole fic, anywho ignore these tag its just me talking, awkward cheryl, beep beep u bet their ass there is gonna be some angst cause of v, i have an oc in here because i wanted to see cheryl as an older sister figure
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-01
Updated: 2019-03-18
Packaged: 2019-04-30 14:43:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 18,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14499255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kingwrites/pseuds/kingwrites
Summary: Cheryl is a florist in the heart of the city, but her ratings start to go down since the loud and obnoxious tattoo parlor moved in next door. So, like any other store owner would, she goes to confront them about it. But she is met with a gorgeous tattoo artist. The only problem, Cheryl’s straight.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> please dont @ me for starting another fic,,, i will update [ydab?!](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13969305) soon!!! but for now,, enjoy this

A surge of anger shot through a certain redhead florist as the familiar thumping of a bass could be felt pulsing through the walls. It was the tattoo parlor next door that had opened up less than a week ago. That place was the bane of Cheryl’s existence from three to eight, the time they open to the time she closed. Which was when all the little, old, sweet grannies came in to buy flowers for their gardens or their grandchild’s recital or some shit like that. 

 

It had driven her business down immensely in the few days that they had been there, not to mention her ratings have gone down the drain to. Normally, she would file a complaint to the city but she was feeling a little more generous the past couple days. Plus she had became a nicer person since she had broken away from her family a few years prior. 

 

So, for some god forsaken reason, she was fixing up a flower bouquet for her new neighbours. She knew that they were a bunch of tattoo artist, which is why she based the bouquet around a more darker and emo theme. Maybe they weren’t like that at all, but it was her best bet to go with considering the music they played. 

 

With a deep sigh, swooping her perfectly red hair to the other shoulder, she picked up the vase and headed out the door. It wasn’t the ideal way to spend her break, but it was the only way she could think of getting them to be quiet. Plus, in this area of downtown, hospitality was supposed to always be shown. Why? Well that, Cheryl had no fucking clue.

 

Pulling her jacket closer in the brisk fall day, she walked the short distance to the tattoo parlor, The Serpent, quickly entering it to get away from the cold weather. What she saw wasn’t what she expected at all. Her caramel eyes landed on a gorgeous brunette who was absorbed in her own world, headphones in and sketchpad out. It was a sight to behold really. 

 

The girl hadn’t realized that someone came in and Cheryl couldn’t find the voice to inform of her that she was there. She was stuck staring at her as she danced slightly to the beat of whatever music she was listening to. It just wasn’t what the redhead had been expecting when she heard the thumping bass every evening. 

 

Her eyes are finally drawn away from the gorgeous girl when someone from the back room shouted at her. “Topaz, customer!” With those words the brunette looked up from her sketch and pulled out an earbud. 

 

Dark eyes scan up Cheryl’s body, confusion evident as they landed on the bouquet of flowers in her hand. “How can I… help you?” The tattoo artist’s voice is smooth but filled to the brim with confusion as she stared at her. She’s a lot shorter when she stepped out from behind the counter and down the stairs. 

 

“Uhh…” Cheryl trails off trying to find her voice, a light flush taking over her white cheeks. Normally she had so much more composure than this, but this time she didn’t and it was annoying. So annoying that she was getting flustered over some random tattoo artist of all people. 

 

With her lost in composure the brunette chuckled softly and walked over to her, leaning against the otherside of the counter. “Not much of a talker, huh?” She teased the strange girl that had entered her place. What? A bit of light teasing never killed a person .

 

At her teasing Cheryl seemed to regain the compused she mysteriously lost. “I’m Cheryl Blossom, I run the flower shop next door.” She paused and held up the flowers she had brought for her. “I had a request and thought I should bring you some flower with it.”

 

Her words brought a small smile to the other girl’s lip as she walked over and took the flowers with her. “I’ll go put these in water.” She replied, her smiling twisting into a small smirk as she pulled away. “I’m Toni by the way. Toni Topaz.”

 

The redhead wasn’t going to lie, she watched the tattoo artist, Toni, walk away. Once she disappeared from sight, she let her eyes wander to other things in the room. First the drawing on the walls and then to the chair. Eventually they find their way to Toni’s closed sketchbook and for some reason she found herself walking over to it. 

 

Her hand ran over the cover of it before flipping it open to the first page. It felt a little intrusive but she couldn’t help it as she is captured by one beautiful image after the next. It was truly remarkable to look at her work. Continuing to flip through the pages she hadn’t realized that Toni had come back. 

 

It wasn’t until she spoke up that Cheryl realized she was there; and that she was standing right next to her, very much in her personal space. Jumping back at the voice she gave a confused and guilty expression. “What?” She asked, her face going a similar color of her fiery hair. 

 

Her flustered state once again brought a small chuckle from the owner of the building. “I asked if you liked what you saw.” A smirk is present on her features as she leaned over Cheryl to close the sketchbook. “You’re not subtle.”

 

There’s something about the way she said those three words that Cheryl just can’t figure out, they were clearly hinting at something, she just didn’t know what. Or she didn’t know until she realized that she had checked her out. Which only made her cheeks go a darker shade then they previously were. 

 

“Yeah!” She said and quickly removed herself from behind the counter and from the close proximity to Toni. Now standing more than a few feet away from her she gave her a small smile. “You’re beautiful. I mean your artwork is, but you too.” The flustered girl wasn’t helping herself in anyway whatsoever. It was a whole new experience for her, being flustered instead of strong and confident. 

 

Another small chuckle comes from Toni as she observed Cheryl in her completely flustered state. This wasn’t what she was expecting when a redhead girl entered the place with a bouquet of flowers. In all honesty, she thought it was one of the crazy girls that always seem to fall in love with Fangs. “Thank you, Blossom.”

 

With a deep breath, Cheryl attempted to regain her composure once again. As much as this was a new experience she could find a way to get over it. Besides it was just a girl, that was all. If it was a guy, who she was actually attracted to, she would be the one who was easily flirting. Yet, Toni wasn’t even flirting with her and she was like this. It made no sense. 

 

“So, you had a request?” The tattoo artist finally asked after some time of silence. Well sometimes of her watching amused as Cheryl stood there flustered. She was cute and she was getting some serious gay vibes from her. But it might just be a wish. 

 

Nodding quickly at her question, the redheaded girl stared at her, confused why she had a questioning look on her features. Then it hit her that she wasn’t speaking and was just enthusiastically nodding her head. “Right! The music, it’s driving away my customers. Can you play it a little softer?”

 

Gorgeous brunette locks of hair fall in Toni’s face as she tilted her head at her. A process of thoughts seemed to cross across her features as she nodded. “Assholes! Keep the music down a pretty girl is requesting!” She shouted the group of guys that was hanging out in the back of parlor. 

 

There’s a moment of silence before someone else shouts back at her as the music is lowered. “I didn’t know our music was stopping you from getting laid!” 

 

A blush came back to Cheryl’s face as she listened carefully to the conversation that was happening. This was the exact opposite of what she had expected by shw\owing up with one request. She thought it was just going be a bunch of  assholes who spat on her request and she was going to have to use her big girl voice. 

 

“Oh, go suck a dick!”

 

“Fangs is getting lunch!”

 

“Jesus Christ, Sweet Pea does Fangs know you two are fucking?!”

 

“The question is does Kevin know?!”

 

“Get your life together!” 

 

There’s no reply after that, so Toni turned back to the redheaded florist. She gave her a charming, teasing type of a smirk. “Sorry about him, but the music shouldn’t be anymore of a problem.” She told her, leaning over to grab her card. 

 

Writing down something quickly she handed it to the other girl. “In case you need anything else, my personal number. Don’t want you to deal with two assholes who might pick up the phone.” A small chuckled came with her words as she looked carefully at Cheryl. Almost as if she was studying her. 

 

She nodded at the words as she read the number in her head, trying her best to commit it to memory already. “Great, well I’ll see you around Toni. Feel free to like get some flowers. First ones are on the house.” Cheryl told her as she walked backwards to the door, hitting it as she walked. 

 

“I’ll make sure to do that.” Toni called after her with a small giggle at the redhead’s awkwardness. She wasn’t going to lie, it was actually really cute and adorable. And something told her that she might have a chance if she tried. 

 

Giving one last thumbs up, the florist ducked out of the shop her heart racing about a thousand beats per minutes. Some tattoo artist shouldn’t have that effect on her. It was completely and utterly absurd. Plus, she was straight! Or at least she thought she was.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Toni finally takes Cheryl up on the free flowers that she owed her

After a rather interesting encounter with the brunette beauty that just happened to be a tattoo artist next door, Cheryl was left expecting something. What she was expecting was beyond the comprehension of the redhead, but she was determined to find it out. That was if she could make sense of the whole situation and why she wanted something. 

 

Everytime she tried to think about what was bugging her, her mind drifted back to Toni; but that couldn’t mean anything. Right? Right. So, there had to be something else that she wanted, or maybe it was just a want for a friendship of some kind. The brunette seemed interesting but nice enough, and there was the added bonus of her being nice on the eyes. 

 

She shook her head to get rid of the thoughts before focusing back on the bouquet of flowers she was making for someone. Ever since her conversation with the other girl, he business has picked back up. Which meant she was back to spending her day helping old ladies and hopeless romantics, or what she enjoyed really. It was fun to help people find the love because she was romantic at heart. 

 

Finishing up the last of the flowers she smiled at the teenager in her shop. It wasn’t often that she got younger girl’s buying romantic bouquets for someone. Most of the time it was some dorky boy who couldn’t shut up about the cute girl or guy he was buying them for. Those types of purchases never failed to warm her heart 

 

“So who’s the lucky boy?” The redhead teased lightly as she rang up the order, making sure to put the discounted price. She had enough money that she never had to worry, having inherit millions, maybe even billions, of dollars from her dad. It was her chose to give away most to scholarships and go into something she loved, just leaving enough to live comfortably 

 

The question brought a shy smile to the girl’s lips and a deep blush to her cheeks. She stared at Cheryl for a few seconds before she finally spoke up. “It’s a girl actually, not boy.” The customer, Dani, told her. If the florist was being honest she wasn’t surprised by the words that left her mouth. 

 

Dani had been a regular at the flower since she was maybe twelve, that was when he mother died. Her elementary school was just a block away, so one day she stumbled upon the small flower shop and fell in love with it. Since that day, Cheryl has always had open arms for the little, or not so little anymore, girl whenever she needed a getaway. 

 

A grin took over her features as she thought about all the different ways she would talk about people, almost how a little sister would talk to an older one. “Please tell me that it’s who I’m thinking.” At her words she took of the price of the flowers completely, wrapping them up fully. 

 

With a small giggle and another blush, the teenager hopped up onto the counter and sat with her legs cross, waiting for her sister like figure to do the same. Rolling her caramel eyes, the redhead put the flowers on a chair and sat across from her. “It’s one of these talks.” Her tone remained light and teasing as the other girl sighed and leaned back. 

 

“She’s just so perfect and I never thought that she would like me back, but then we were walking back after getting lunch and she turned to me, with those perfectly blue eyes, with a huge grin.” Dani began to gush almost instantly, recounting the tails of what had happened for her to but flowers. Or more specifically when this happened, so Cheryl knew if she should be offended that she was just finding out. 

 

“And she just… she kissed me. I swear it was the most perfect thing to ever happen to me. Her lips for so soft and she just kept kissing me, in the middle of the sidewalk. It left me speechless, so now we’re just taking things slow.” Her friend continued, a lovesick grin on her face as she did so. 

 

Cheryl sat up slightly and gave her a very serious look, which was hard because all she wanted to do was squeal for the other girl. “When did this happen?” She question, finding it extremely hard to keep a straight face in this situation. The number of times that Dani had talked about her best friend and not realized she was in love with her was unimaginable. 

 

“About a week ago.”

 

A dramatic gasp escaped the florists lips as she lightly hit her ‘sister’s’ arm. “How could you?!” She put a hand over her heart, feigning being wounded which only brought a giggle from the teenager. It warmed her heart that she was finally back in a good place. 

 

“I ran here when it happened, but you weren’t here.” She replied with a exaggerated pout her way. That thought brought a small blush to Cheryl’s cheek , because she knew exactly why she wasn’t there. She was over at the tattoo parlor unknowingly crushing on the cute tattoo artist. 

 

Before Dani even had a chance to reply, a small bell chimes that brings both of their attention to the door. The person standing there, of course, was the one that had just been occupying her thoughts no less than a few seconds ago. 

 

Toni gave both the girl’s a smile before glancing at the sign on the door. “Is this a bad time? The sign said you were open?” Her voice is questioning as she shut the door behind her. Might as well commit to the visit already, a part of her was hoping that Cheryl wouldn’t be there. 

 

Almost instantly the redheaded florist had launched herself of the counter to talk to Toni, which brought a small giggle from Dani who remained where she was. “Dani was just leaving, weren’t you.” She told her, trying to shoo her off the counter and towards the counter. 

 

“I’m actually just about to start my shift.” She gave her a small smirk before jumping off the counter and turned to face Toni. “Don’t mind her, she’s been going bonkers in the heads recently. Can’t seem to remember anything, must be the age.”

 

Toni laughed at the teenager’s words, which received a light shove from Cheryl. This was only their second time talking, but she was embarrassed and everything just felt natural with the tattoo artist. Taking off her apron she threw it at Dani, “Great, you can go sweep up the backroom.” 

 

The youngest girl groaned as she caught the apron, knowing that she got herself into this mess. A small smirk is plastered on her features though as she heads to the back, leaving the door open. Cheryl might not know it, but it was obvious that she wasn’t straight. That was a guarantee just from how flustered she got dealing with the cute customers. 

 

“So how can I help you?” The florist asked, giving her best grin that she was able to conjure up in her already flustered state. 

 

A small giggle came from the tattoo artist at the whole encounter that had just happened, and Cheryl’s attempt to “cooly” transition into a new subject. She acknowledged the words before walking down one of the isles, the redhead following behind her. “I want to buy some flowers.”

 

“First purchase is on the house remember?” She teased her, picking up random flowers as she walked. There was a lot that went into buying the perfect bouquet, but Cheryl really didn’t want to come off as prying by asking the questions that would determined what she need. 

 

Dark eyes roll at the eagerness in the florist voice. “What type of flowers should you buy for your girlfriend?” She asked her, which for some unknown reason had made the redhead’s heart drop into her stomach. Yet, she was still naive enough to think that those feelings had meant nothing at all. It was probably just something she had eaten for breakfast. 

 

Truth be told, Toni didn't even have a person that she was interested in let alone a person that she was actually dating. She honestly had just wanted an excuse to see Cheryl, but couldn’t think of a reason a person like her would be buying flowers that wasn’t depressing. In hindsight maybe it would have been better to say that her grandmother died, because of the ways Cheryl’s face falls for a brief second. 

 

“Well…” She trailed off as she grabbed a flower, showing it to the tattoo artist. “This flower, the amaryllis, represents splendid beauty and worth beyond that.”

Toni nodded at that, making sure it’s added to the budding bouquet of flowers in front of her. This process continued as Cheryl suggested different types of flowers. 

 

“A pink carnation, symbolising the love you have for a woman or your mother… A hydrangea shows heartfelt emotions… And finally, violets and lavenders.” The redhead had finished up making the flower bed, managing not to become a flustered mess this time. 

 

The whole time she was explaining the types of flowers Toni had just nodded, a small smile plastered on her features. She followed the florist around the store, slightly suspicious at the last two flowers that she had picked. It was only make the redhead’s gay vibes stronger than ever. 

 

She was lead to the checkout, even if she was getting them for free there was probably something inventory wise that needed to be done. “So Blossom, you must have all the girls on you?” It was a little dangerous to be testing the waters now but Cheryl almost throwing the flowers was worth it. 

 

Pale cheeks almost instantly grew a deep red as she began to stumble over her words. “The girls? Over me? No! I mean no. I’m really straight. Like straighter than an arrow straight, yeah… straight! No girls for me.” She quickly replied only getting more flustered with every new word she said. 

 

One of Toni’s perfect eyebrows go up as a small chuckle comes from how fluster the florist had gotten at one general statement. There was no way in hell that she was actually straight. No chance at all. “Are you sure about that?” She teased easily, leaning forward on the counter. 

 

The blush on the florist cheeks only deepen at the close proximity that they now were. “Yup, sure as ever!” Her voice comes out as a squeak, which only managed to make her more flustered than she was previously. That might as well been worthy of an award at this point because she didn’t think that was possible. 

 

“So you wouldn’t be interested in going to pride with me next weekend?” The tattoo artist asked as she carefully examined the flustered girl with a satisfied smirk. Maybe it was a little fun to make her fluster. Okay, it was a shit ton of fun to make someone who seemed so put together so flustered at one little suggestion. 

 

The questioned seemed to conflict the redhead woman, because on one hand she got to hang out with the girl she already felt something with but she had no place at pride. “Can straight people go to that?” She asked her, once the burning in her cheeks had died down just a little. 

 

That brought one of Toni’s cute giggles, not that Cheryl had found her cute in any way. Well, she was cute but not in the she was gay for her way. Just in a way a person would admire a cute friend. She was allowed to think that a girl was cute, hell even hot in the leather jacket and tight jeans, and it mean absolutely nothing. Except in the redhead’s case it had actually meant something. Something that she wasn’t ready to admit to herself. 

 

Before either of them could reply, Dani is flying out of the back room with a childish grin on her features. “She would love to go with you! I was going to drag her along with me anyway.” She said excitedly, taking over ringing up the tattoo artist so that Cheryl didn’t mess something up in her flustered state. “I’m Dani by the way, Cheryl’s little sister like person.”

 

Another laugh came from Toni as she took the flowers from the energetic girl, eyes glancing at the flustered girl as she did. “But shouldn’t you go with you girlfriend?” Cheryl asked her, sending an harsh glare in the direction of the teenager, who just ignored it completely. 

 

That question actually made the shortest girl in the room freeze, not expecting her lie to come back and bite her in the ass; but it was so she had to actually think of another lie. In a couple weeks she can just tell the redhead that the two of them had broke up. “She’s going to be out of town.”

 

Dani grinned at that, writing down something on the receipt. “Text Cheryl whenever, she had noooooo life. I mean it. She spends like her whole day selling flowers and hanging out with old people.” That earned a proper playful wack from Cheryl as she moved from behind the counter, going to guide Toni to the door. 

 

Once they’re out the door she finally finds the urge to speak again, the embarrassment beginning to wear off finally. “I don’t spend all my time with old people, I have friend.” She told her with an awkward chuckle, not wanting to appear lame to the cool and hot tattoo artist. 

 

That brought a chuckle from Toni as she shook her head at the still flustered girl, at least it wasn’t as bad as it was early. How flustered now is what she considered a win, just based on her past history of blushing around the girl. At the amount she had done it, it was hard to believe this was only their second time talking to each other. It was actually scarring Cheryl a lot because she was supposed to be straight, which meant that she didn’t become a flustered mess around one cute girl from time to time. 

 

“I will text you sometime, so you don’t have to hang out with just old people and a teenage girl.” She teased lightly, holding up the the receipt Dani had slipped in her hand with the bundle of flowers when Cheryl was trying to get her out of her. That brought a huff from the redhead as she pouted at Toni. 

 

“Until next time.” She gave her a quick peck on the cheek before heading next door. The flowers were now going to become part of the tattoo parlor decoration because she had no time to run them home. Maybe she’d take them home, but it would be nice to have a constant reminder of the adorable redhead next door during work.

 

The simple peck of the cheek had left Cheryl the most flustered she had ever been, standing there frozen with fiery red cheeks. Caramel eyes stared after as she opened up the place, continuing to stay on the building long after Toni had actually entered it. Her thoughts are interrupted by Dani dragging her into the store singing a childish song about the two of them and her “crush” on the tattoo artist. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is one is for tonischeryl because i felt personally attacked when i saw their comment right before i was going to update this,,,,,, jk i dont feel attacked buuuuuuuut i promise ill finish this,,,


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Otherwise she would keep getting into situations like the one she was currently in, aka the girl who can make her flustered with one glance saying she’ll give her a ride.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i knowwwwww this took a really long time but im a hoe who puts shit off lmaooooo
> 
> a psa tho this will not have any type of update schedules and i do have finals coming up,,, so please keep that in mind lol

It had been three days since the whole incident with Dani and Toni and the redhead florist had yet to hear a single word from her new friend. Pride wasn’t for another week, but a part of Cheryl really wanted a call or a text or anything really from the tattoo artist who was next door. The thing was that she could’ve texted her herself, but she didn’t want to come off as clingy. Even if Toni was the one to ask her out. Not it a date way of course!

 

She sighed as she locked up her shop, the tattoo artist continuously plaguing her mind whenever she as doing something. It was honestly insane at this point, like he mind was never free. She was just some girl who she had befriended there was no reason to be on her mind so much. Yet, whenever she was showering or trying to sleep or  _ doing other things _ the girl seemed to be on her mind. Which was starting to cause her some major stress she couldn’t figure out what it meant. 

 

Except she was straight so there was only one thing in the world that it could really mean, despite all the things that Veronica had told her, and that one thing was that she wanted to be her friend. It made all the sense to her out of everything that had been thrown her way about everything. There was no way that she was… gay. 

 

It wasn’t like she had anything against it, she just wasn’t gay. She liked guys and only guys, there was no way she could even like a girl as more than a friend. Even if she did enjoy them a lot more than she did guys that was natural. Everyone was supposed to prefer their gender to the other one, it was just a thing, right? Right. 

 

Maybe she would text her when she got home so that she could get her off of her mind finally. She needed some time just to just think about anything other than the brunette beauty that always seemed to be where she wasn’t ready for it. Closing up her shop to catch eyes with Toni smoking a cigarette outside or running seeing her at the Starbucks that was nearby. It was getting harder to get her off her mind the more she saw her and just didn’t say hi or anything. 

 

With that train of thought, she was completely oblivious to her surroundings as she walked through the grocery store. It was the same one she went to every Monday night, right after work, so it was in her system to walk through the isles with ease. Her mind had been preoccupied with, well you don’t really have to guess who, that she had barely realized that she had ended up there. 

 

Which is completely why she wasn’t paying attention to anything as she put random items into the basket, it was also why she ran straight into someone. The person she ran into was shorter so she went tumbling to the ground, losing the contents of her own basket with it. 

 

“I’m so sorry.” The redhead quickly apologized as she bent down to pick up the items that scattered on the floor. She didn’t properly look at who she had actually ran into. Well that wasn’t into there was a familiar chuckle as their hands brushed together. Of course, of all the people in this huge ass city, she had to run into the person that just wouldn’t leave her mind. Maybe this was faits way of saying ‘fuck you’ and making her confront her problems head on. 

 

The tattoo artist pushed herself of the floor and stood up to her full, which was still adorably cute, height. She picked the basket up as she watched Cheryl do the same. “Is this your way of flirting? Because it needs some work?” Toni teased, a light and easy smirk taking over her gorgeous features. 

 

A dark red blush took over the florist features as she processed the words. Was she flirting with Toni? Was that how she was coming off? Like she was flirting with a taken woman. Especially when she was straight and shouldn’t be flirting with another girl. At all. “What? No! I’m as straight as a rainbow! Wait no! An arrow!” 

 

Her fumbling of words only brought another chuckle from Toni’s perfect lips, not that Cheryl was looking at those or anything. Okay maybe she was, but they were nice lips that was all. There was nothing more to that, well there was the way that she would catch her bottom lip between her teeth after she laughed. But besides the point, the point was that Cheryl was once again being awkward around her and now didn’t know what to do. 

 

“As straight as a rainbow?” She mused out loud, raising one of her perfectly manicured eyebrows at the redhead. Her voice remained the same teasing tone that it had before, but this time there was a slight difference. What the slight difference was Cheryl couldn’t really tell at that monet, but she knew that it would hit her eventually. 

 

The blush on Cheryl’s cheeks only darken more at the thought of what she had actually said, she was falling apart for this girl. Any sign that she ever showed of having herself put together was thrown out the window over a cliff’s edge the second she laid eyes on the other girl. “You know what I meant.” A small pout took over her features as he crossed her arm over her chest. 

 

Dark brown eyes roll at the redhead’s pouting before she began walking, grabbing onto her new friend’s hand as she walked by her. “So you never texted me?” Toni gave Cheryl a questioning look as they walked down the isle of the grocery story fingers intertwined.

 

In all honesty, the florist couldn’t tell you how the fuck she got herself into this situation but she wasn’t complaining. She had nothing to complain about and maybe the other girl had felt the instant friendship between them and that’s why they were holding hand right then. Nevertheless, Cheryl could still feel the blush on her cheeks flare up whenever she glanced down at their hands. 

 

Getting so caught up in over thinking everything that was happening in those past few minutes, she hadn’t realized that she didn’t respond to Toni’s sentence about her not responding. It was all her fault anyway, for making her overthink every little that she did around her. She had no idea why, but she really wanted to impress the brunette girl with the pink stripes and body filled with tattoos. 

 

“I wasn’t sure if you were being serious about wanting to go with me and Dani is a little bit problematic sometimes when it comes to setting up dates for me. Not that I’m saying this is a date since I’m straight and you have a girlfriend, and you’re smiling so you know that I meant that.” Her rambling was something new that had appeared in the past few days, but she couldn’t help it at this point. It was awful what one girl could do to her when there shouldn’t even be an effect of her. 

 

Toni tugged at Cheryl’s hand slightly, pulling her closer than she previously was. Maybe it was weird that they were getting this close for only talking to each other two other times before this, but neither of them seemed to mind that this was happening in anyway at all. “I actually don’t have a girlfriend but I respect that you’re straight.” Toni’s words are as genuine as they could possibly come, and the redhead can feel that awful feeling from a few days completely leave her body. 

 

The florist instantly smirked at her, this time being the one who wasn’t going to be flustered. Although, her friend seemed to be pretty okay with admitting to being in a lie about things. “Then why did you tell me that you did?” She teased her, easily falling into a banter that you would see from people who had been friends for awhile. 

 

“If you want an honest answer I wanted to see you and I needed some new flowers to design some tattoos.” A new blush took of Cheryl’s pale cheeks, right after she had worked so hard to get rid of the previous one, at the sounds of Toni’s voice. She had never entertained the idea that Toni had felt something between the two of them too, it meant that she wasn’t totally crazy. 

 

Trying her best to not lose her composure this time she leaned over Toni to grab something off the shelf. “Are you saying you made up a fake girlfriend to see me?” This time it was Cheryl that was teasing and the brunette that had a light blush on her dark cheeks. It was a nice turn of events if she was being honest, since she spent most of her time a nervous mess around her. 

 

“Well you never texted so I had to make up some excuse or the other to make sure you hadn’t died.” The tattoo artist came right back with teasing of her own, which took Cheryl by surprised. She was expecting her to be as flustered as the redhead was, but instead she just got a fading pink tinge of the cheeks and perfect composure. Okay, maybe Cheryl was just an awkward mess around people, or more specifically Toni, unlike other people who always seemed to have their composure. 

 

Caramel eyes are the one to roll at the teasing this time, holding her breath as Toni leans into her presence. How they got this close in just three conversation was beyond that flustered redhead, but before she had known her friend was out of her personal space. The two hands remained intertwined as she tried to think about how to respond to that, she just wasn’t good when it came to reaching out to people or just texting in general. 

 

The breathe that she was previously came out as a sigh of relief as she laid eyes on the checkout area that they were fastly approaching. If Cheryl hadn’t been so flustered then the tattoo artist might have take that the wrong way, but she had witnessed enough of the redhead to know she was looking for a way that her cheeks could cool down. “Trying to get rid of me that fast, huh? At least let me walk you to the car?”

 

Her eyes rolled at that, getting into line with Toni. “That means you’d have to walk me home.” The second those words leave her mouth the florist can feel herself begin to heat up once again, she really had to think before she speaks. Otherwise she would keep getting into situations like the one she was currently in, aka the girl who can make her flustered with one glance saying she’ll give her a ride. 

 

Not sure what comes over her Cheryl accept the friendly offer for a ride as they stand in line of the checkout. Once they have both paid, they find their way to Toni’s car and get into it with a comfortable silence. It wasn’t a long drive to the redhead’s house and she was too scared to actually start a conversation so she kept it that way, eyes studying her friend’s pretty features. 

 

When they pull into her apartment complex parking lot the last thing that the florist is expecting is for Toni to get out of the car with her. Then she’s holding Chery’s bag as she leads them to her apartment complex, not having the energy to say she doesn’t have to. It wasn’t because she liked hanging out with the other girl, even if it was just comfortable silences from time to time. 

 

Reaching Cheryl’s front door the first thing that Toni did was hand the grocery bags over to the redhead, the fact that their hands brushing together meaning nothing to her. But to Cheryl? She was having a whole ass panic attack at the feeling of strong but soft fingers lighting brushing past her cool ones. It send a whole shock that seems to travel throughout her entire body, which only makes the panic she feel growns. 

 

Putting the groceries inside of her house, she leaves the door open as she turned to the tattoo artist that was waiting to bid her a farewell. A brilliant smile took over the Cheryl’s features as she almost awkwardly stands there, trying to decide if she should invite Toni in instead. She decided against it, knowing that she needed a long bath, some wind, and a good night’s sleep. Plus, she knew the sooner she went to bed then the more she could sleep in. 

 

Much to her own surprise the flustered girl managed to lightly tease her tattoo artist of a friend, “I’ll text you.” For some unknown reason she thought it would a brilliant idea to throw in a quirky wink that brings an instant giggle from Toni. To make matters worse she pulled her phone out and set a text to the unused contact, the one that had been sitting there for a few days. 

 

“No going back now, flower girl. I’ll text you the details of our little outing when I get back home.” Toni matched her grin with a cute, little chuckle. Not that Cheryl thought that anything about her was cute. Like, at all. She could make a general acknowledgement. Right? Right. 

 

Caramel eyes roll at the teasing that is easily shot right back at her, but this time she was actually appeared. With some micracule from the Lord himself, she managed to keep every bit of flustered feeling to herself for once. The look on Toni’s face as she continued to to look at the pale girl is a mix between a smirk, but disappointed for a moment. “Bye, Toni.”

 

In that exact moment, the redhead girl had no idea on how she should say bye to Toni. Was a kiss on the cheek too much? A hug wouldn't hurt anybody, right? What about a polite handshake? Or maybe just watching her go would be enough for her?

 

Cheryl’s questioned are answered before she had a time to process it all, the tattoo artist pulling her into a tight hug and kissing her cheek when she pulled away. Okay, good. It was just normal things she would do with any friend with Toni. She no longer had to worry about appearing to flirt with her friend, not like her constantly flustered state helped her in that category

 

The hug last longer than what was necessary, the touches lingering just slightly too long for them to be considered platonic. Even if she would refuse to admit that anything was happening, a part of her knew that she was starting to fall for the edgy artist in the shop next door. 

 

When the hug finally ends and Toni has placed her soft lips against Cheryl’s pale cheeks, a dark blush taking over her feature at that, her new friend turns to leave. “See you on Tuesday.” That was all that left the gorgeous brunette mouth as she hopped down the steps, the redhead florist watching her as she did so. 

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Toni and Cheryl meet up for drink to talk about plans for their upcoming "date"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is a little more on the dirty side and there's some drinking in it just a fair warning,,,,, but dont worry the smut is saved for later in the fic

The next week or so is spent with next to no contacts from Toni, Cheryl only getting a wave and a smile here and there, which was much to her despair. It felt weird to actually want to spend time with someone she barely even know, but there was something dragging her towards the tattoo artist. Maybe it was the way she smile, or the way she looked when she went on a run past her shop, or maybe… wait, no. Her jogging had absolutely nothing to do with the fact of the redhead wanting to get to know her. 

 

There was just something enticing about her presence that dragged you into her, made you want to know every little thing about. It hadn’t helped that she smelt a lot like peaches and lavender, two of Cheryl’s favorite things. That small fact had just made the florist want to befriend her more and more, but that was hard when there was not even one text from the other girl. Or that was until Friday night while she was laying in bed. 

 

She had been tossing and turning like it was her job to, unable to keep her mind quiet enough for her to fall asleep. There was just always some stupid thought or the other about the girl who had basically ghosted her. And as if on cue, her phone chimmened on the other side of the bed. Rolling over so that she could look at it. Cheryl managed to ungracefully fallen onto the floor, her excitement from a possible text from Toni getting to her. 

 

Much to her disappointment, it was just Kevin informing her that he was going to get laid the next night and was going to have to cancel their dinner plans. A small frown took over her lips as she reread the text. Texting back something encouraging, she tossed her phone to the side with a deep sigh. It was then that an idea had struck her as she lunged back for her phone and opening the previous conversation with Toni. 

 

Her fingers hovered over the keyboard before quickly typing out a question. She stared at it for a good few minutes before deleting it all and restarting the question. By the time she had actually considered sending it, a good hour had passed by. Which is why the florist was getting second thoughts, because wasn’t it weird to text a practical stranger at one in the morning. Yet, she knew that Toni would be awake because she knew exactly what time the tattoo parlor was opened to and what days her friend worked. 

 

With a mumbled “fuck it” she sent the text: Want to discuss or plans for Sunday over drinks tomorrow? It was a simple question, that really didn’t need as much thought put into it as Cheryl had, but in her defense she had wanted it to be perfect. That way she would get a better chance at the answer being yes. 

 

In all honesty, she wasn’t expecting the familiar dots to show up on her screen right away. She wasn’t ready to have an quick back and forth conversation with this girl. It had taken her over an hour to type out a simple question for crying out loud! But that didn’t stop from a text to show up on her screen. 

 

**Toni:** sure! tell me the place and time and ill be there 

 

**Cheryl:** do you know where the wrym is? 

 

**Toni:** yeah, i use to bartend there to get through college 

 

**Cheryl:** great!! want to meet there at nine?

 

**Toni:** ill pick you up ;)

 

**Toni:** i happen to be right next door when you get off 

 

**Cheryl:** sounds gay 

 

**Cheryl:** i mean, sounds great!

 

**Toni:** see you tomorrow, dork 

 

When the conversation end, the florist could feel her heart beating at an abnormally fast rate. She had managed to get through a whole conversation with almost no mistakes. Well there was the ending, but that was just mistyping and auto corrects fault. Plus that didn’t matter because she finally got to see Toni for more than a minute later that day. 

 

Shit it was that day, it was nearly two in the morning and she had work in six hours. Pushing herself off the carpeted floor with a small grunt, Cheryl crawled back into bed and sprawled out. This time she found herself falling asleep a lot quicker than she had early. Maybe this time because she didn’t have to worry about the tattoo artist, that could all come the next day. 

 

When Cheryl had woken up she was already running late for work, so she skipped making herself any breakfast. A small granola bar hanging from her mouth was the only thing she ate as she quickly hurried to work. By the time she got there, opening was an hour late which met that she missed one of her prime business time. Deciding to make up for that lost hour she completely skipped over any form of lunch. 

 

So, by the time Toni was strolling into the shop to take her to get those drinks and discuss the plans of pride the florist had had next to nothing to eat. But now that the other girl was in presence there was this feeling of nervousness that hadn’t even made her hungry. All previous thoughts of food are replaced with the image of Toni wearing tight, leather pants with an even tighter tank top, which showed of some tummy. 

 

Cheryl can’t stop herself from giving her the once over more than once. Her mouth hung open as she tried to find some way to take in air again. If she had know Toni was going to look like  _ that _ she might have thought over what she was wearing. Considering all she had on was a simple red checkered sundress with vans. Normally she would be wearing something fancier, but she was in a rush and this was all she had. 

 

“Like what you see?” The tattoo artist once again easily teased the other girl, which brought an instant blush to Cheryl’s face. At this point she might have to get use to the familiar burning of the cheeks whenever she was around the other girl. It was almost ridiculous how easily she found herself flustered around some girl. 

 

The redhead still couldn’t find the words to actually answer her, dark caramel eyes still scanning over the smaller girl’s body. Her eyes follow the patterns of the tattoos that fill the arms of Toni, wondering what everyone of them meant. Up until this moment she had only seen the tattoo artist in her work jacket. Or that what Cheryl had dubbed it because it had The Serpent symbol on it and she always wore it. 

 

Dropping down to her waste she then noticed it tied loosely around her hips with some flannel or the other. Shaking her head she realized that she actually had to give her a reply and not completely die right there and then. There was no reason that she should be this affected by something like this. So what if Toni is hot, or that she looked good in what she was wearing or that she would look better without it. 

 

She shook her head again as her face began to heat up even more. Certain thoughts like those should not be in her head in the moment, especially with some girl because she was straight. Or at least that’s what she was going to keep telling herself until it became true. It would be completely unprofessional to be thinking about that way of the person next door. 

 

“Hello earth to Cheryl? What’s going on up there?” Those words pull Cheryl back into the real world, one where Toni had gotten extremely close to her why she was spaced out. With one more shake of the head she tried her best to grin at her. 

 

“You look amazing. Like really good. I just wasn’t expecting you to look like…” She trailed off and made an vague gesture up and down the brunette’s body. “Well like that. Because it’s really hot but it would be hotter if it was nothing. And what did I just say. I mean like, I’m sure you have a nice body. I see you running something and oh God I swear I’m not a stalked. Okay! I’m just going to stop talking now! I promise I’m straight.”

 

The blush that had taken over the features of the redhead had only darkened as she continued to rambled. And it only got worse when she started talking about her body because the was inappropriate on many levels. Yet, there was still no stopping that awful rambling that plagued Cheryl whenever the gorgeous girl was around her. 

 

Luckily, instead of getting creeped out or offended, her awkward rambling had brought a small chuckle from Toni’s perfectly parted lips. Not that she was staring at her lips or anything, she just happened to notice what they looked like. Maybe even wondered how they felt like, they did look awfully soft sometimes. That was if Cheryl had paid attention to those kind of things, which she totally didn’t. 

 

“Sure you are, babe. Let’s go.” Taking her hand, the gorgeous brunette dragged the flustered redhead out of her own store and into the street. Quickly locking up her place she let Toni lead her way to the Wyrm, it had been years since she had actually stepped into the place. Ever since she had started to hang out with Veronica and Kevin more she began to use more of the money she inherited. 

 

Not trusting herself to speak anymore she waited to see if Toni had anything teasing or witty to say to her. But it remained silent for most the walk there, their hands still in each others as they did so. Which is where almost all of her attention had gone to the second she realized what was happening. She could feel her hand getting sweaty faster, yet the tattoo artist still didn’t unlock their hands. 

 

Finally, after about fifteen minutes of Cheryl panicking, they had reached their destination. That’s when her hand was dropped in favour of Toni getting the door for the redhead. Caramel eyes carefully study the gorgeous girl as she walked by her and sat down in one of the booths. They then land on the tattoo artist, who had followed her and taken a seat across from her. 

 

The first thing they get out of the way is placing their order of what to drink, Toni getting a beer and Cheryl opting for a whisky. It was hard liquor which was going into an pretty much empty stomach, which had slipped the redheads minds as they were ordering, so there was an interesting night ahead of them. 

 

Once their drink had arrived they started to work on their plan. They ended up finishing their rather plan with so much left of the night. So, without thinking, the florist downed the rest of her whisky and stood up. Pulling Toni out of the booth she dragged her over to the pool tables with a small smirk playing on her features. 

 

“Loser has to buy shots?” She suggested, the smirk on her cherry red lips only growing. Now that the alcohol was starting to take over her system, she lost the normal flusteredness that surrounded her. This was all confidence off a slightly tipsy woman who had a budding crush on the cute tattoo artist in the shop next door. 

 

With a roll of her dark eyes, Toni easily matched the redhead’s smirk. She began to set up the game for them to play before giving Cheryl a cocky grin. “I hope you’re ready to buy all night.”

 

In a rather funny turn of event the florist had actually beaten her in the first round of pool. But by the time they were nearly seven shots of tequila and something in, she was starting to lose. Both of them eventually gave up trying to play the game when they were both that buzzed, opting for dancing insead. 

 

Drunk Cheryl was completely different around the tattoo artist then the flustered sober one. This version of her had the tendency to take the lead, compared to fall into a complete mess. Which is exactly why she was the one dragging Toni out into the semi-crowded dance floor and dancing with her. If she was simply tipsy her dancing would be a lot less sexual, but she was full out drunk so everything she did was sexualized about a thousand times. 

 

With a smirk she danced against her equally as drunk friend, making sure that every touch was lingering on her body. She wanted to make sure that everything she did was just enough to make the gorgeous brunette want more of her. There was no thoughts telling her that she had to actually be straight her, this time she got to enjoy everything about this moment. 

 

At some point in the dancing, Toni had basically started to melt under every single one of Cheryl’s touches. She wanted more of the girl, but she had enough common sense to know that wasn’t going to happen that night. But there was only so much, and stopping Cheryl from dancing on her was not part of it. Even if it was going to leave her hot and bothered she knew she could take care of it eventually. 

 

The night wore on and before either of them knew it it was closing time, which meant that they had to go back to one of their place. Somehow being sober enough to figure out that Cheryl’s house was the fastest place to get to, the two of them stumbled down the street. Luckily, the bartender had been nice enough to order them an uber and wait with them until it got there. 

 

When they arrived back to the redhead’s small but fancy flat, the both of them stumbled into it while giggling. They had ended up in her kitchen, not sure if they what they were looking for. Giving up, Cheryl took her drunk friend’s hand and dragged her to her bedroom. Once there she hooked her fingers into the belt loops of Toni’s leather pants and pulled her closer. 

 

Leaning into the scent of lavender and peach with the side of alcohol, the florist was centimeters away from her friend’s perfect lips. Her eyes darted down to them for a brief moment before she finally whispered, well it was more of a drunk whispered, what she was going to say. “I meant what I said about you without clothes.” 

 

The already tinged cheeks the belonged to the tattoo artist go a slightly darker shade of pink at the comment. Dark browns eyes also darted down to the other’s lip before leaning in to kiss her. But like the tease that the redhead was when she was drunk, Cheryl pulled away at the last moment. “It’s bedtime silly! Can’t sleep with me tonight.” Her voice is teasing as she half walked and half stumbled to her dresser. 

 

Pulling out pajamas for herself and Toni she began to strip. Once she was down in just her undergarments, she gave her a friend a grinned filled with pearly white teeth. “Don’t worry! I’ll change in the bathroom, here!” With her words she tossed an extra pair of clothes at the tattoo artist before heading into the bathroom. 

 

Now that the both of them had changed into comfortable clothes, the redhead found herself falling onto her bed out of exhaustion. She looked at her new, still drunk, friend and let her know she could sleep in the bed too. She didn’t last much longer after that as her eyes shut and the length of the day, plus the alcohol, finally getting to her and knocking her out like it was nothing. 


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the morning getting ready for pride hungover // ft. cheryl gay panic every other minute

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dont hate me,,,, i promise pride will happen next chapter,, i mean how can it now

The next morning Cheryl is awoken to a quiet snore and an arm wrapped lazily around her body. She didn’t dare to move, trying to piece together everything that had happened the night before. Normally she wasn’t such a lightweight or one to actually get so drunk she couldn’t remember what had happened, yet her she was. Her head pounding and some stranger spooning her. 

 

She finally cracked her eyes opened, wincing at the light shining brightly through her blinds. In the process she silently cursed herself for liking to be woken up by sunlight. After her eyes had adjusted to the stupidly bright sun, she looked down to make sure she was clothed. But instead of that she got the fact that the arms around her were feminine ones. Ones that had extremely familiar tattoos covering them. 

 

The redhead quickly, but carefully, turned in the arms, which brought her face inches from the one of a sleeping Toni. It took everything in her will not to push out of her arms and put distance between them. Her cheeks flush a rosey pink as she realized just how close the two of them actually were. But this time she didn’t want to pull away as she got the perfect view of the tattoo artist’s gorgeous face. 

 

Caramel eyes examine the delicate and not at all guarded features of the other girl. It was like every one of her features perfectly transition into the next one. For some reason though, her eyes kept going back to the soft lips that belonged to her. Those were the last thing she should be staring at, but she was. Everything about them were the definition of perfection. They looked as soft as cloud and for some reason Cheryl found herself wanting to kiss the other girl awake. 

 

Which caused her to flush up even more and carefully remove herself from the sleeping girl. She ignored the pounding in her head as she stretched her whole body out. She was only in an oversized t-shirt and underwear, so one of the first things she did was slip on a pair of shorts. After the she quietly snuck out of her own bedroom, so she didn’t wake up he friend. 

 

Running a hand through her curly, red hair she could smell the alcohol wafting off of her. She sighed before grabbing a towel on the way to the bathroom. Once she had finished her shower she slipped back into what she was previously wearing. 

 

After she had taken the time to dry and brush her hair she checked in on Toni, who was somehow still snoring as she slept. He eyes fell to the time, which was only seven in the morning. It felt like she shouldn’t be up after the night she apparently had, but her internal clock and the sun had beat up her hangover into making her wake up early. 

 

They didn’t need to leave for pride for another couple hours and with the way Toni was sleeping, she saw he wearing something of Cheryl’s. Not that she minded, it was a nice sight to picture. Well, picturing Toni in general was a nice sight. She brought out of her daydreaming of the other girl by her coffee machine angrily beeping it at her. And as if on cue, she looked up to see the tattoo artist sleepily stepping out of her room.

 

The sun shining from her opened the door perfectly framed a sleep taken tattoo artist. Her slightly messy hair seemed to suite her perfectly as she yawned. Almost as perfectly as the way the slightly bigger shirt rode up her thighs when she was stretching. Everything about that second seemed like a perfection. 

 

“Oh shit,” She mumbled to herself as she had the biggest realization she’s had in her entire life. She was gay. Cheryl Blossom was gay and very much attracted to the hot bad girl who worked next door to her flower shop. Then the next realization had to dawn on her right after. She was gay and entirely screwed. She had spent their whole friendship insisting that she was straight. And now she has a crush and doesn’t know what to do about it. 

 

The whole time she’s having her internal gay panic, Toni is walking towards her with a concerned look. She checked back in when she was right in front of her. “Yo, earth to Cheryl?” Her voice ringed out throughout the kitchen which is kind of what brought her back to the real world and not gay panic world. 

 

Cheryl stared at her for a moment before she’s jumping back and spilling hot coffee all over her. “Sorry! Yup, right here! And a clutz! Golly gosh I clean this right up!” She can tell that her chipper and loud voice is hurting Toni’s head because it’s hurting hers in the process. But she can’t seem to care because she just said “golly gosh” in front of her new found crush. 

 

In her embarrassment she barely realized the burning sensation that was going down her chest. The only one she could actually focus on was the one in her cheeks as they got hotter and hotter the longer she stood there. And then she processed her whole sentence and she jumped right into action cleaning up the spilt coffee. 

 

The tattoo artist simply gives her a look that’s a mix of hungover pain and the usual amusement at how flustered that Cheryl got around her. After watching her for a couple seconds she’s making her way over to chugging the water and aspirin that the redhead had so kindly left out for her. Then she pours herself a cup of coffee, leaning against the counter to watch silently as the other girl continued her struggles of regaining a sense of composure. 

 

Once she managed to clean up the mess she just seemed to make it worse than before she put the coffee cup down on the counter. She glanced at Toni for a brief moment before excusing herself to go change. Deciding that a simple sundress she made sure that there wasn’t any serious injuries from being burned with scalding coffee.  

 

In the time it took her to change and regained her composure it had been nearly ten minutes. She checked herself in the mirror once more, feeling like a schoolgirl dressing up for her crush once again. Which was basically what she was doing except this time around she was a twenty-seven year old woman and not some teenage in high school. 

 

When she stepped out of her room she wasn’t expecting Dani and her girlfriend already there, with Toni cooking in the kitchen. She looked between the two girls before heading back into the kitchen, ignoring the eyebrow wiggle that she received from the girl who was basically her little sister at this point. 

 

The second she’s in the kitchen she’s grabbing another advil, knowing she was going to need it to get through a day of the energetic girl that was Dani. She sighed as she poured herself another cup of coffee before she hopped up onto the counter to look over at Toni cooking. That moment felt so domestic for people who had been talking for maybe two weeks, that being very much of a stretch. It had been closer to a week than it had to two weeks. 

 

After a moment of watching the tattoo artist cook, hair tied back and a random apron she had found tied around her waist, Cheryl tore her eyes away. “So what are you cooking?” She hummed softly, taking a long sip of the god send that was coffee. 

 

“Pancakes and eggs.” She knew that the girls were coming so she thought it be best that would make something for them. Which almost surprised the florist because she didn’t seem like person who would think of other but she didn’t mind. What she mind was that Toni had turned all her attention to her and was standing extremely close to her body. 

 

Cheryl looked at her with a small gulp, this time putting her coffee to the side. “Where are the plates?” The tattoo artist asked and all that she managed to do was point up to the cabinet that was above her. Except she didn’t move so that Toni could get to the plates, so that’s how she find the girls standing in between her legs trying to get into her cabinet, hand carelessly on Cheryl’s thigh as she tried to balanced.

 

Which is how she ends up acting like an asshole because instead of helping the tattoo artist like any decent person would, she’s panicking gayly. Her eyes are trained on the darker girl’s hand resting on her pale thigh. It’s higher up then she could even begin to comprehend anymore. Her whole mind was just yelling at her about the hand that kept getting higher up with everyone hop that Toni made in attempt to reach the plates. 

 

Finally when Cheryl was able to comprehend everything that was happening not just the hand resting on her thigh, she placed a hand over Toni, which granted wasn’t her smartest decision. Her other one is placed on her shoulder, stopping her from her effortless jumping. “You’re tiny and it’s cute.” She said quietly, her head still pounding from her intense hangover. 

 

“I’m not tiny.” Her words are accompanied by a small pout, staring at Cheryl. Neither of them had put any distance between them, hands still resting on her thigh. 

 

Her pout brought a small giggle from the florist’s parted lips. “You are and it’s cute.”

 

“No, I’m not.”

 

“Yeah you are.”

 

They have this back and forth for a couple minutes before they’re just staring at them. It isn’t until the florist’s eyes are flickering back and forth between Toni’s eyes and her lips. And then she’s leaning in to meet her lips, but just as their lips are about to meet to the fire alarm is going off. It was like fate was yelling at them that this shouldn’t be happening in that moment, or maybe at all. 

 

Before either have time to focus on what happened they are inches apart while the tattoo artist tries to stop the pancake from burning and Cheryl is trying to get the annoying blare of the fire alarm. She groaned when it didn’t shut up and she just began waking it with the broom. The last thing she needed was for the building being evacuated because she almost kissed someone while they were baking. 

 

Eventually the smoke stops and the fire alarm needs to be replaced. With a sigh, Cheryl rand a hand through her red curls. “Want to stop by McDonalds on our way to the festival?” She asked the girl’s as she followed Toni out of the kitchen defeated by the simple task. 

 

Both of them perk up with a nod before they settle back into each other and talking. The florist drags the other girl towards her room because she knew they would have to leave earlier if they wanted to actually get food without spending a considerable amount of time there. “Do you want to wear something of mine?” She offered once the door has shut behind him. 

 

“Do you have anything that’s going to fit my ‘tiny and cute’ body?” Toni easily teased her as she ran a hand over the clothes in her closet. She settled with grabbing one of the very few flannels that Cheryl had for gardening and discarded the shirt that she was wearing. The tattoo artist didn’t seem like she cared that someone else was still in the room. 

 

She bent down to the clothes pile from the previous night, searching for her bra. The florist can’t help but stare at her body, but her eyes land on a tattoo on her ribcage. She had a lot of tattoos but this one just stood out compared to all the others one. “Want does that one mean?” Without thinking about she’s by the other’s girl side and placing a finger on her almost bare body. 

 

Dark brown eyes go from the pale features of her friend to the cole feeling of her finger pressed against her body. Taking a minute to figure out which one she wanted to know about. “My friends and I all have them, we got them one night to represent our friendship. It might be stupid but we call ourself the Serpents.”

 

Cheryl nodded as she found out about the the meaning of the tattoo. “Is that why you named your shop that?” She hummed, pulling her finger away from her body and taking a couple steps back. This time she looked away from the changing girl and focused on a random sock that was strewn about her room. 

 

“Yeah, sappy I know but now we’re officially stuck together forever.” A small chuckle floats throughout the quiet room as she finished slipping into her leather pants. Luckily those didn’t smell like alcohol, so Toni didn’t have to struggle to fit into Cheryl’s pants or skirts. That’s something that couldn’t easily be shared between the two. “Ready to go?”

 

Turning her attention back to Toni, the florist’s breath hitched in her throat as she looked her up and down. Even in the simplest of outfits she still managed to look absolutely stunning. “Yup!” She took ahold of the other girl’s hand again and pulled her towards the next. “You look good by the way.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i beg of u,,,,, i know i said this kiss would happen this chapter but,,,, u know,, pride didnt happen so im not a reliable source


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> PRIDE PRIDE PRIIIIIIDE

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dont attack me for this just be happy i finally wrote it lmao

After a silent car ride that felt like it had taken forever the quirky group of girls finally arrived at their first destination of the day, McDonalds. Originally this was nowhere near in the plan for pride, but neither was being hungover or the fact that Toni and Cheryl had a  _ moment  _ when they were making pancakes. Actually none of their plans had even accounted for Toni being there first thing in the morning because they weren’t actually supposed to get drunk the night before. 

 

They made their way into the, unsurprisingly, busy fast food chain. All the noise was only making the two girl’s migraines worse, but they would be damned if they missed this day. What was fun without a little bit of pain anyway. It wasn’t going to kill them to be proud of their sexualities, or in Cheryl’s case just “supporting her friends”, just their heads. But the other two girls were as happy as they could be, holding hand and talking about something or the other. 

 

Even though the restaurant was busy there still wasn’t much of a wait because of where they were. It only took a few minutes before they were situating themselves in one of the booths and waiting for their number to be called. On the way there was a lot of advils that were taken so the headaches that were there before were slowly starting to go away. This meant that they were able to actually hold a conversation for a moment.

 

Shortly after the first sentence had left one of the girl’s mouth their food was being called. For some reason both Cheryl found herself going up with Toni to collect the shitty food mumbling something or the other about the tattoo artist not getting enough syrup. 

 

They both walk in completely awkward silence as they head to the tray and back to the table. Setting the pancakes on the table the two younger girls wasted no time digging into the pancakes they had. With a roll of her caramel eyes at their grubbiness, Cheryl turned to give Toni a look. But that’s when she realized how awkward things were between them as the brunette looked in a different direction.

 

With a deep sigh, the florist ran a hand through her curly, red hair before taking a seat in the booth. Toni followed after and  _ God, were these booths always so small _ ? Their thighs are basically touching as the tattoo artist rummage through the debri for the food that was actually there’s. She finds it with a small, cute “aha” before handing Cheryl her’s. 

 

“Didn’t anyone teach you how to eat, Danielle?” The redhead scolded the girl that was like a little sister to her, even going as far as to give her a glare. For the most part, she had gotten away from her rich roots, but there was still little parts of it that shown through with the money. It wasn’t like she was living a rich lifestyle or anything, but she was. There was actually a bit of surprise on her part when Toni didn’t seem that interested in it. 

 

Once the words had registered with the table of girls, the youngest girl only rolls her eyes and throws an unused butter at the redhead. Cheryl only gasps before throwing it back at her, and before they know it the others had joined in. Unused packets were thrown back and forth an group of laughing people. 

 

All their fun had to stop though, after they nailed some grouchy person in the back with one of the sauce packers, which prompted the old man to turn around an lecture the four girls. Once he decided that he had enough of lecturing them he brought his attention back to whatever he was eating and all of them burst out laughing. It wasn’t the most respectful thing to do but it was also ridiculously funny to them all. 

 

After that they fell into a comfortable conversation as they finished their food in no rush. The event didn’t actually start for a while so they had some times, although a lot of people had already begin to start the parade early. Still no one actually wanted to rush into the event, no matter how excited the two younger girls were for their first pride, so that meant that could take all the time they wanted on eating and getting over hangovers. 

 

Eventually they all finished and made their way over to the actual event, Dani and he girlfriend skipping was ahead of the two older girls. But that was okay because they had already talked about what would happen if one of them got lost or kidnapped. So they weren’t entirely worried for the two teenagers, they had proven to Cheryl they could fend for themselves many times in the past. 

 

That left the tattoo artist and the florist walking next to each other in what Cheryl hoped was a comfortable silence. Yeah, this was a comfortable for sure. Was it? No, it was. There was no reason why it would be awkward, right? Well besides the fact that they almost kissed while making pancakes that morning but that didn’t mean anything. That wouldn’t make anything awkward because friend almost kissed all the time. Yeah, that made some kind of sense.

 

It was like Toni could sense the internal panic that was happening in the redhead’s head because she slipped her hand into hers and gave her a soft smile. That was probably supposed to calm her down but that only seemed to make her more nervous. And oh god was her hand sweating? Was she getting hand sweat all over the other girls hand. What if she didn’t like that and they never held hands again, because Cheryl couldn’t control her hand sweat! 

 

“Relax, flower girl, I know it’s a lot of rainbows for a straight person to take it but we can ease you into it slowly.” There’s a teasing tone in Toni’s words that makes her relax a little bit, the hand squeeze that was sent her way also helped her calm down a little bit. Something about the pinknette had an aura to her that pulled Cheryl in but also terrified her while simultaneously making her nervous and calm. It was the most confused the redhead had been in a while. 

 

Without actually thinking about it the florist tugged her new found friend closer to her body, blushing lightly as she did. They both had their eyes one Dani up ahead so it was more leisure than fun for the two girls who were watching them. Not that they weren’t having fun, but there also a sense of responsibility to it. 

 

“It’s not the rainbows I just think I’m gay. Maybe. Possibly. I think. I think that I’m gay. Yeah. No maybes, just, I think that I’m gay.” She was rambled nervously because she wasn’t sure, even if a part of her had known it for her whole life she was just now coming the realization. Her free hands run through her red curls the nerves getting to her. She had no idea what Toni would say to that but at least she knew that is wasn’t going to be mean. 

 

Actually it was far from mean. It started off in a light teasing tone but it wasn’t mean because it was coming to the tattooed girl to always tease Cheryl and she really liked it. Not in a weird way of course. 

 

The two of them stopped in the middle of the bustling crowd, Toni turning so that her body faced the redhead’s. Reaching out she took her other hand in her’s, rubbing her knuckles softly and giving her a kind look. Years ago, she was in the exact same situation that he new friend was in so the least she could do was help her out with figuring herself out. After all that’s what she had when she started out, well she had her best friends but they had no idea on how they even starting dating each other so they were useless. 

 

“Most straight girls don’t almost kiss their friend after a night of cuddling.” Her tone is light as she teased the redhead, but her expression quickly turned to a more serious expression. “But if you’re gay then that’s great or if bi or pan or queer or maybe just questioning that’s all great because love is important. So it doesn’t matter if you fall in love with a girl or a guy or even a pal, just that you find someone who loves you as much as you love them.”

 

She paused and looked down at her feet, trying to decide what to say next. The crowd around them seemed to have just disappeared, like in the movies, and it feels like it’s just the two of them in the moment. “So yeah, if you’re gay there are plenty of pretty girls surrounding us if you decide you want to experiment today or not, or even flirt with someone so you can experiment in the future.”

 

In reality Cheryl was nervous just around one girl that she’s friends with she had no idea what she’d turn into if she was trying to flirt with pretty girls… or even kissing them. The whole time would be filled with panic and yeah, it wouldn’t be good for the redhead at all. Well kissing a girl sounds pretty girl sounds pretty good in the long run, just not right there were Cheryl would probably panic and run away. 

 

Without really thinking for once she pulled her new friend in a tight hug, ignoring the tears that was ruining her makeup but she didn’t care. The last time she had voiced anything about being gay was when she was in middle school and that didn’t end up well for her or the girl she was caught with. After that she completely ignored any feelings for girls that could be considered more than friendly. 

 

“Thank you.” She whispered as she hid her face in the tattoo artists neck with as she attempted to stop crying. This was the first time she actually felt validated for all the way that she felt. For being the way that she was, she didn’t know what that was yes but she had time to figure it out. Ot at least she thinks that she does, it feels like she does but she could be wrong. 

 

After a few minutes of hugging Cheryl pulled away from Toni and wiped at the tears. “I need to put rainbow or something on my face so you can’t tell my mascara is running.” She joked lightly as she wiped away the rest of the tears, giving the tattoo artist a small smile. Lacing their fingers back together she dragged her away from the spot, successfully merging back into the crowd in search of Dani and her girlfriend. 

 

It only took them a few minutes to catch up to the two younger girls and come up with a game plane. Once they had decided on a time and a place to meet they went their separate ways ready to enjoy the parade at its fullest. The two older girls were partnered up and the two younger ones were partners because that only made the most sense. Couples stayed together. Not that Toni and Cheryl were a couple, like a couple of people. Yeah, that’s exactly what it was. Just a couple of people partnering off so the real couple could have fun. 

 

Hours passed in what felt like no time at all. It was getting dark, late, and Cheryl promised that he would have Dani and Riley home by eleven and it was getting extremely close to that time. The tattoo artist and florist, who were now covered in confetti and beads and a lot of other things, made their way over to the meetup spot they had decided on.

 

When they got there the other two were already there, Dani half asleep on top of her girlfriend. The redhead didn’t really blame them because she spent all day on her feet for work and even she was exhausted. Once Riley spotted them she woke her girlfriend up and walked over to them. 

 

“Hey girls! Have fun?” Cheryl asked them once they were over to them, which only got a tired replies of yes and something else that she couldn’t quite figure out. That’s when they made it clear that they were too tired to have a conversation and just wanted to go home. Which is why Toni’s was leading their way through the lessening crowd and ordering an uber for the group. 

 

Almost all of the car ride was spent in silence as the redhead rested her head on the tattoo artist, her red curls sprawling over her shoulder. The shorter girl didn’t mind as she ran a hand through the curls, humming softly to the music playing on the stereo. Meanwhile the other two girls fought sleep as they got closer and closer to the house they were staying at for the night. 

 

Once Dani and Riley were dropped off the comfortable silence remained, the two of them getting out when they got back to Cheryl’s place. Both of them stood outside of her door, waiting for the other to say something. It was the awkward, flustered redhead that was the first one to speak up. “Thank you for today, I had a lot of fun.”

 

Pink haired moved as the shorter girl nodded at her words, leaning up to take the stray hair behind the florist’s ear. “You’re very welcome, flower girl.” She replied and gave her a soft look. Something about it made the redhead’s impulse control go out the window as she leaned down and connected their lips, kissing Toni. 

 

Instantly the other girl was kissing back as her arms went up to wrap around Cheryl’s neck, supporting herself a little as she pushed up on the tip of her toes. There was just enough of a height difference for her to need to do that, which would probably get her teased later on. It didn’t take long before the redheads hands were on Toni’s hips as she pulled her together. 

 

The kiss felt like mix of perfection and like it was never going to end, but the redhead was the first one to pull away. A deep blush had taken over her features as she stared at her, quickly disconnecting their bodies from each other. “Yup! Not gay! See you on Monday!” It was definitely the panic talking as she chirped out her words. 

 

With that statement she made her way into her house leavine a stunned  Toni staring at the maple wood door in utter confusion. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DONT @ ME SHE PANICKED OAKY


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> cheryl and veronica go clubbing only to run into toni

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and i bet yall thought that i abandoned his like literally every other multi chapter fic that i write, but jokes on u bitches

Was Cheryl Blossom regretting her decision to tell a pretty girl she was straight after she kissed her in one of those ways that only happen in the movies? You can bet your ass that she was. Still, that didn’t stop her from doing everything else that she wanted to do, despite the whole hating life thing. For example, she was still going to work, planning on hiding behind whatever she could when she saw Toni. Except she hadn’t seen her in a while. 

 

Well by a while she meant a whole week. It had been a whole week of going into work and not even getting a glance of her favorite pink haired girl, not that that was a good way to describe her considering it was the only girl with pink hair that the redhead had known. Granted, everything about the girl was a complete and utter anomaly compared to who she was usually seen hanging around with. Not that she was seen hanging out with people very often since she spent all her time working on her shop. 

  
Still, that didn’t stop her all the time, which is why she was currently out with the one and only Veronica Lodge and it was safe to say that she was shit faced. That was purely based on the fact that she didn’t have work the next day and she was an adult she was allowed to get a little uber drunk from time to time. This wasn’t going to kill her, it wouldn’t be the first stupid decision that she made in the past week or so.

 

Of course, though, this was the night that she had to finally see the girl that had been plaguing her thoughts every second of the day. And of course, she had to be flirting with some guy because that was just her luck. It wasn’t like she didn’t have the right to be jealous but she didn’t and she was anyway. Which was why she locked eyes with her before pulling Veronica onto the dance floor, shamelessly dancing on her best friend and digging a deeper hole than she needed to. 

 

But then dancing turned into kissing and holy shit Veronica Lodge is a really good kisser and was getting hotter by the second. The more they kissed the more she actually wanted this to go somewhere and the more she forgot about the girl that she had been instantly infatuated with. Maybe that was how they ended up in the club bathroom, Cheryl shoving the raven haired girl against the wall as she deepened their kiss.

 

It was then that she could say for sure that she wasn’t straight, well she could say that for sure after the whole Toni incident but that was more of an experiment. Okay, so maybe it wasn’t but this was one of those for sure kind of things compared to the possibility of that. That was most likely due to her being actually turned on for once compared to all the other times when she had been in similar situations but it was a guy instead of a girl. 

 

So she didn’t even think twice about the whole thing as she felt the shorter girl’s hand push up the tight dress that the redhead had been wearing the night. It was all happening in a half drunk, fully greedy fashion. It was like they couldn’t get enough of each other even though in the morning both of them would pretend that this situation hadn’t happened. But, since she obviously did something to piss off the universe, that wasn’t going to happen considering the girl she was trying to forget about walk right in on them. More specifically walked in on Cheryl biting back a moan as Veronica’s thumb was rubbing circles at the redhead clit, hand up her dress. 

 

There was no forgetting or pretending that something like this happened, the girl that she was crushing on and told her she was straight walking in on her getting fucked by her best friend. Actually, something like that shouldn’t even happen, but once again it was made clear that she did something to piss of whatever God there was in the world. The night would be good for a moment and then something had to go and fuck that up for her, this was the second time the process had been repeated. 

 

Except now she actually had to deal with the fact that Toni had walked in on them and was now just staring at the two girls as they were quick to get out of their position with a look of half amusement and half hurt? Cheryl couldn’t tell because her attention was mostly focused on the burning of her pale cheeks and the drunken haze that had failed to leave. Maybe if she drank enough she would actually forget this whole situation. 

 

Her caramels eyes were directed at the floor but she finally brought them up when Toni had said anything for a couple minutes, but it felt more like an eternity. Eyes met eyes as she looked at the pink haired girl up and down, taking her in and everything that she was wearing. She had on something you would usually see her in, except she was sporting sleeves and you could see the tattoos that littered her arms, a certain snake one that she mentions having was nowhere to be found.  

 

Finally, her eyes landed on her gorgeous features, one eyebrow raised at the girl who had pretty much told her she was straight only to turn around and get fingered by a girl in a club bathroom. “You’re really good at being straight, aren’t you red?” She teased lightly, her tone not coming off hurt in anyway but easily being a teasing one. It confused Cheryl because it had really seemed like the pink haired girl had a thing for her but that’s where she was obviously very wrong. Maybe she just went around a kissed random straight girls just to see if they were really straight or maybe she was pretending to be okay with the situation. 

 

Honestly, her reply had the redhead more lost for words than she already had been, instead choosing to stare at the other girl. Okay, it was much of a choice since she couldn't even find the words that she needed for this situation. Which was probably why after waiting a moment for a reply the pink haired girl spoke again. “I’m just fucking with you. Do you want me to leave so you can continue or do you want me to give you two rides home?” 

 

It made no sense to the florist why she was offering them a ride home but she simply glanced over at Veronica waiting for her to answer. “A ride home would be nice. Also, I don’t believe that we’ve had a chance to meet, I’m Veronica Lodge.” For some reason, the other girl who had been caught red handed seem to have a lot more composure, compared to the paralyzed Cheryl that was standing. 

 

Reaching out Toni shook Veronica hand giving her a small smirk. “Toni Topaz.” There seemed to be some kind of flirtatious tone in the shortest girl’s tone as she spoke, but the florist tried her best to ignore it. Then she tried to ignore it as the continued to make conversation and flirt as they walked out of the bathroom with Cheryl walking behind them confused as to what just had happened. 

 

The girl she had a crush on and had walked in on her being fucked by her best friend was now flirting with her best friend, when did that happen? What did she do to fuck the universe so much that this was happening? It was like tonight it was going to flip her the bird and then never stop doing so for the rest of her life. One thing to say ‘fuck you’ and then another one to say ‘double fuck you’.

 

Of course, that came out more when the whole car ride to Veronica’s place the two girls were sitting in the front flirting more than they should with Cheryl in the back still unsure what to even say. Normally she would be way more controlled in the situation but that wasn’t happening right then as she chose silence. It had been a good few years since she hung up her Queen Bitch™ ways but apparently it had taken more of a toll on her then she thought. 

 

Finally, she was relieved of being utterly shocked when Toni had decided to drop of her best friend off first since it was on the way to both Cheryl’s place and hers. That was when the redheaded florist got to move up to the front seat of the car. Yet that didn’t fix the silence in the car as neither of them dared to talk. No, not one of them dare utter a word or maybe it was because neither of them knew what to say to each other. 

 

It wasn’t until the tattoo artist had pulled up to the familiar house that she had said something. “You know if you didn’t want to be with me then you could’ve said that instead of telling me that you were straight.”

 

“I am straight.”

 

At those words, a small scoff escaped Toni’s parted lips as she gave a look that gave the screamed ‘you can’t be serious’. “If you’re straight how would you explain what you were doing getting fingered by a raven haired beauty in a club bathroom?” It was a valid question and no matter how much in denial the girl was about her sexuality she was too drunk to even think of a bullshitted explanation for that whole situation that was at hand. 

 

“Okay so maybe I’m not straight…” Cheryl trailed off not even having an idea on how she would come up for an explanation for it all, not that there was one. Being honest seemed like the most terrifying thing that she could do right then, so maybe it would be good to take a moment to breathe and get a feel of what she was, you know, feeling. 

 

After what felt like an eternity of silence between the two of them she spoke again. “I saw you with that guy and got jealous so I turned to Veronica. I know that I’m not allowed or supposed to be jealous but I am because I....” She had sober up somewhat on the way to her house, lots of water being involved in the process, which was probably how she came up with a response that actually made some sort of sense to a person. “I like you.” The rest of it had been more rushed out with a slight slur since she wanted that part over and done with as fast as humanly possible. 

 

That was when the pink haired tattoo artist had finally turned fully to face Cheryl, studying her features for a moment. There was no doubt about that being the truth she just didn’t know what she wanted to do with the information yet. “I like you too b-” Toni didn’t even get to finish her sentence before the redhead was lunging forward to kiss her, the alcohol in her system mostly being the one to lead her actions. 

 

Letting the kiss last for no more than a couple seconds the tattoo artist gently shoved the other girl off of her as she gave her an apologetic look. “But maybe we should talk about this when you’re sober.” She said finishing off the words that she was originally going to say before Cheryl had kissed her. Yeah, maybe if she had alcohol in her system she would’ve let the kiss keep happening and then continue into more, but she was sober so that wasn’t going to happen. 

 

With a nod the redhead sat back in her seat, thinking of what she wanted to say to her. “I’ll see you tomorrow, TT.” That was when she finally got out of the car, deciding that she had embarrassed herself enough for one day if she was being honest. It was like bad decision after bad decision and all she wanted to do now was take a hot shower and go to sleep. 

 

“Yeah, tomorrow.”  Was all that Toni had said in return, glad that she didn’t see the blush that had taken over her cheeks at this point. The entire relationship had been the pale girl’s cheeks being a bright red except it was her turn, which only seemed fair after the past couple weeks of finding the adorkable redhead to be one of the cutest things that she had ever seen. Luckily Cheryl was too drunk to notice or care so she was safe for the time being, which meant that she could drive away once she saw that the girl she had a crush on was safely inside the apartment complex and out of sight. 

 


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the day after conversation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> listen, i have no excuse but at least i wrote it

Once again Cheryl woke up with a pounding headache and a hangover, the only difference being the fact that she couldn’t remember much of the night. After dancing with Veronica and seeing Toni, it’s pretty much a blank slate. Which means hopefully she didn’t do anything stupid in the time that she couldn’t remember, yet knowing her she always managed to do something stupid when she got drunk. Hence why she was quick to roll over and make sure that there was no one in her bed this time around. 

 

A small sigh of relief left the redhead girl when she knew that no one was in her bed and that no one was in her house. She rolled back onto her back, staring up at the white ceiling as she thought. She was trying to remember the most about the previous night but none of it was coming back to her, the thing that was coming back to her though was sleep. Clearly, she had an eventful night if she was still tired, but there was no sleep as her phone went off. 

 

A groan escaped her parted lips as she reached for the phone, not even looking at the contact name she denied the call. But there was another one right after that so she knew that it was the young girl she had taken under her wing. “What Dani?” She said, a small tone of annoyance in her voice as she spoke to her. In all honesty, their relationship had always been a little bit on the younger and older sister side, so this wasn’t abnormal for them.    
  
“You said I could work today and you’re not here.” At her words, she realized that it was both Sunday and that she was running late. She knew very well that by the time she was ready to go she was going to miss some of the usual old ladies that came every Sunday morning. So with a soft sigh, she was probably about to do one of the more regrettable things she going to do all day, mostly because she didn’t fully trust the young girl to run her shop.    
  


“You can open up today.”

 

“Yay, love you!”   
  
“Love you too Dani.” She mumbled before hanging up on the girl, rolling over in bed and putting a pillow of her head. If she was being honest, Cheryl could easily fall back to sleep but she had no intention of doing that because Dani running the store meant bad things. So she dramatically rolled out her bed with a small groan, making her way to the bathroom so that she could shower and not show up smelling like alcohol. 

 

Once she was showered and dressed she made he way to the kitchen to find something to eat before she had to face a long day of working with a hangover. Unable to find anything she let out a frustrated groan, adding grocery shopping to the list of things she had to do that day. So she grabbed her keys and decided that she could make a stop at Starbucks and be a few more minutes late to the start of her usual Sunday morning. 

 

There was nothing that Cheryl hated more than being late, besides imbeciles, still if she was going to be late she would at least come to work fed. It was pointless to be running late and not eat, an extra ten minutes wasn’t going to kill her. Granted she was about two hours late, but that just made the ten minutes seem like a lot less time compared to if she was fifteen minutes late. 

 

So, once she had food she found her way to the shop, her head still pounding as an excited Dani ran over to her and gave her a hug. She was happy to see the younger girl, but her headache had different feelings about the excited greeting that she had been given. Still, she gave the excitable girl a hug back, using one hand as to make sure that her coffee wasn’t spilled on the floor–– that was the last thing that she needed right about now. 

 

With a hum she pulled away, examining her shop to make sure that there was no damage to be found to both the structure and the delicate flowers that sat on the shelves. Satisfied with finding nothing wrong she started walking back to her office, letting her heels click on the tile as she walked away. “Maybe I should let you open up more often, you didn’t do a terrible job.” She teased lightly as she set her things down. 

 

Once she was back out in the main part of the shop she went to check on the cash to make sure that it was all set, only to find a blushing Riley sitting behind the counter with an apron on. “Oh hello Riley, you making yourself at home?” A questioning eyebrow raised at the girl as she waited for an answer, looking over at her little sister too as a smirk played on her features.

 

“I was bored and I wanted something to do- Wait! I don’t mean do as in sex, I mean do as in keep me company! Flowers are nice and all but you can’t have a conversation with them, plus they aren’t as cute as Riley is.” There was a bright blush on Dani’s cheeks as she rambled to the older redhead, not sure what to do about the whole thing. It was cute and it reminded Cheryl of the numerous times she had re-explained herself when she was in college, mostly when she was talking to the hot professor that taught her business class. 

 

So, Cheryl only gave her a small smirk before going to grab her own apron to throw over her body. “What I’m hearing is Riley is looking for a no-pay job?” She said, continuing to tease the two of them as she made a mental note to offer the other girl a job. Paying her wouldn’t be a problem, the only reason that Cheryl was generally the only one who worked there that she didn’t need to extra hands. Still she was willing to make room for those that she cared about. 

 

“No!” Riley exclaimed, standing up to her full height of 5’9”, which was granted taller than the other redhead in the room. “I mean, I would love pay.” The girl gave her a big grin, always being a happy and energetic person. She was a hot-shot sports player so it kind of went with everything really well, actually everything about Riley was a little too put together but Cheryl never thought much of it–– That would change within the next few months though. 

 

Still, Cheryl gave her a smile back but before she could reply there was a ring the bell that told them that a customer had just walked in. All three pair of eyes go to the person at the door, and of course, it’s the one person that the eldest redhead tried so hard to avoid when she could. Which is why the smile that had been on her features had fallen so that her face was almost completely rid of any emotions. “How can I help you?”

 

There was an easy smirk on Toni’s features, which annoyed Cheryl because she looked so smug but also so hot at the same time and it left her as one ball of confusion. “Can I talk to you? In private.” She threw in a wink as she ended her sentence, mostly for the entertainment of the two teenagers who were shoving Cheryl towards the door without much hesitation. 

 

“Go take a walk, we can man- or should I say, woman?- the shop for another twenty minutes, we’ve done okay so far.” Despite the fact that Dani seemed to be trying to convince to Cheryl, she was really just hoping that if she talked enough that her boss wouldn’t try and protest against the going. “Plus the fresh air will do the hangover wonders even if you don’t want to admit it and going on a walk will be great cardio- that you need because you skipped Sunday morning yoga.” 

 

Cheryl didn’t attempt to protest as she listened to the younger girl talk, only shaking her head in response to be shoved out of the door of her own flower shop. “You better not burn down my place in the twenty minutes this walk takes.” She gives them a stern look before rolling her eyes at the smug look that remained on the face of the tattoo artist. “Stop looking so smug, I don’t even want to talk you.”

 

This got a nice chuckle out of the shorter girl as they began there walk down the quiet street where they both worked. It wasn’t the fanciest place in the city but it was definitely on the more upscale side of things, which is why Cheryl wondered how there was a tattoo shop that had found its way next to her simple flower shop. 

 

“If you didn’t want to talk to me then why did you agree to leave your shop so easily?” The tattoo artist is quick to challenge, raising a perfectly manicured eyebrow in the direction of the redhead. Yeah, she could not tease her but she liked how flustered she could make the girl and how fast she could do it. The previous night had left her blushing and now she felt like she needed to make up for that. So, she was going to tease Cheryl and try her hardest to make her blush. 

 

Her tactic worked, of course, worked and the redhead’s face was quick to match her hair. “Well, you see, uhhhh, the cardio is really good for me and Dani was right, I did skip my morning yoga and you know, fresh air can really cure a hangover.” Turning into a sputtering mess she tried her best to come up with any excuse for the walk that wasn’t she wanted to talk to the girl who was walking beside her. 

 

“Mhmm, whatever you say, Blossom.” The doubt was clear in Toni’s tone as she spoke, her step easily falling in line with the girl she was walking by. After the previous night, she knew how the girl felt for her but she also wanted to see if she felt the same way for her when she was sober. The difference in sobriety could really affect the way that a person felt towards another human being. “So you’re nursing a hangover, do you remember anything from last night?”

 

The smirk that remained on Toni’s features turned to a concerned look as she asked her the question though, which sent a warm wave through Cheryl’s body. It was the idea that Toni cared enough to ask that left her cheeks an even brighter red than they previously were. “Oh uh, not really. I haven’t tried to remember yet.” She gave her a sheepish smile as she decided to not think back on the night before. 

 

It was those words that made a small frown form on Toni’s features, only for a brief moment before it was out of sight and replaced with a teasing smirk. She could live with the fact that the feelings were nothing more than acting on drunk impulsive, but she hated that she got her hopes up for something. “Damn, Cheryl Blossom must not mess around when it comes to clubbing.” Her voice was light, hiding the slight twinge of sadness that she felt. 

 

“We should part here, I just remembered I have an appointment. Call me if you remember our run in from last night.” With a wink, the tattoo artist turned on her heel and started her walk back to the tattoo shop. It was that moment that the previous night's memories came flooding into her brain, now that she was actually thinking past the pounding headache that was the byproduct of the night. 

 

It took her through the start of it all and eventually ended with being dropped off by the girl who was currently walking away from her. There was a small tingling feeling in her lips as she remembered the previous kiss and the kiss before that. A lot happened the previous night and she knew she was going to have to face it eventually, but her brain didn’t want to focus on that. 

 

Yet, her body seemed to have a mind of its own as she moved to grab onto Toni’s wrist and pull her back for a kiss. It was in public and if anyone she knew saw her she was going to have to deal with that, but she didn’t feel herself pull away as she kissed the tattoo artist. Her mind was screaming about how she shouldn’t be doing this but her body had control as her hands found the other girl’s cheeks. 

 

The redhead essentially melted into the kiss that she started, not actually having enough confidence to continue being the aggressor through the whole kiss. Which was probably why she was the first one to pull away, her cheeks the reddest they had ever been and her breathing deep. “Woah, uh that was amazing.” Her voice is quiet before shes processed everything and is pulling away from the girl, an even darker blush forming on her pale cheeks- this time though, there was a slight tint to the other girl’s cheeks. 

 

“I’m sorry, that was completely inappropriate of me and I have to go do things.” She stumbled over her words as she looked over at Toni, quickly moving past her in the direction of her flower shop. 

 

“Things?” The tattoo artist called out after her, her eyebrow raised in curiosity but it didn’t hide her confusion for the situation. She wasn’t sure what had just happened, but she found herself watching the redhead retreat from her once again. As much as she wanted to help her come to terms with her sexuality, it was a lot more work than she thought it was going to be and she has no idea if she’ll be able to help her. 

 

“I’m a busy woman, I’ll call you tonight.” And with that Cheryl was fleeing from the scene and was back to the flower shop in record time. She made a mental note to stop by the tattoo shop after work, knowing she was going to have to face Toni but also knowing that she could put it off for just a little bit later. What she couldn’t put off though was the bombarding of questions that came from the teenage girls who had been waiting for her in the shop. 

 

She was quick to deflect all the questions as she put on her apron, giving different jobs for the two girls to do to keep them occupied. There were only a few hours before she was closing up the shop, which meant that there were only a few hours for her to prepare to see Toni. Yeah, she theoretically could see the girl unprepared but at the same time, she knew that was already going to leave her being too much of a flustered mess to function. For now though, she can daydream about what she wishes could be the outcome of the visit she is to make to Toni later that day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> follow me on tumblr @kinglywriter

**Author's Note:**

> okay so u can always find me on [tumblr](https://cherrystopaz.tumblr.com) or on the [choni discord](https://discord.gg/FZkXsy2)


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